[tomaskafka]

The whole time I was expecting just a 2d height field ("terrain") with animated noise as z, overlooked from an angle by an isometric camera, it could imo produce a same effect in a much simpler way (and without need for expensive blur), right?

[akx]

The blur here isn't expensive (as discussed in the article itself).

Chances are sampling a 2D height field and projecting, etc. would be more expensive.